CHAPTER VII. WE VISIT COUSIN MATTIE’S

One Saturday in March we walked over to Baywater, for a long-talked-of visit to Cousin Mattie Dilke. By the road, Baywater was six miles away, but there was a short cut across hills and fields and woods which was scantly¹ three. We did not look forward to our visit with any particular delight, for there was nobody at Cousin Mattie’s except grown-ups who had been grown up so long that it was rather hard for them to remember they had ever been children. But, as Felicity told us, it was necessary to visit Cousin Mattie at least once a year, or else she would be “huffed,” so we concluded we might as well go and have it over.

“Anyhow, we’ll get a splendiferous dinner,” said Dan. “Cousin Mattie’s a great cook and there’s nothing stingy about her.”

“You are always thinking of your stomach,” said Felicity pleasantly.

“Well, you know I couldn’t get along very well without it, darling,” responded Dan who, since New Year’s, had adopted a new method of dealing² with Felicity—whether by way of keeping his resolution or because he had discovered that it annoyed Felicity far more than angry retorts, deponent sayeth not. He invariably met her criticisms with a good-natured grin and a flippant remark with some tender epithet³ tagged on to it. Poor Felicity used to get hopelessly furious over it.

Uncle Alec was dubious⁴ about our going that day. He looked abroad on the general dourness⁵ of gray earth and gray air and gray sky, and said a storm was brewing⁶. But Cousin Mattie had been sent word that we were coming, and she did not like to be disappointed, so he let us go, warning us to stay with Cousin Mattie all night if the storm came on while we were there.

We enjoyed our walk—even Felix enjoyed it, although he had been appointed to write up the visit for Our Magazine and was rather weighed down by the responsibility of it. What mattered it though the world were gray and wintry? We walked the golden road and carried spring time in our hearts, and we beguiled⁷ our way with laughter and jest, and the tales the Story Girl told us—myths and legends of elder time.

The walking was good, for there had lately been a thaw⁸ and everything was frozen. We went over fields, crossed by spidery trails of gray fences, where the withered⁹ grasses stuck forlornly up through the snow; we lingered for a time in a group of hill pines, great, majestic¹⁰ tree-creatures, friends of evening stars; and finally struck into the belt of fir and maple¹¹ which intervened between Carlisle and Baywater. It was in this locality that Peg¹² Bowen lived, and our way lay near her house though not directly in sight of it. We hoped we would not meet her, for since the affair of the bewitchment of Paddy we did not know quite what to think of Peg; the boldest of us held his breath as we passed her haunts, and drew it again with a sigh of relief when they were safely left behind.

The woods were full of the brooding stillness that often precedes a storm, and the wind crept along their white, cone-sprinkled floors with a low, wailing¹³ cry. Around us were solitudes¹⁴ of snow, arcades¹⁵ picked out in pearl and silver, long avenues of untrodden marble whence sprang the cathedral¹⁶ columns of the firs. We were all sorry when we were through the woods and found ourselves looking down into the snug¹⁷, commonplace, farmstead-dotted settlement of Baywater.

“There’s Cousin Mattie’s house—that big white one at the turn of the road,” said the Story Girl. “I hope she has that dinner ready, Dan. I’m hungry as a wolf after our walk.”

“I wish Cousin Mattie’s husband was still alive,” said Dan. “He was an awful nice old man. He always had his pockets full of nuts and apples. I used to like going there better when he was alive. Too many old women don’t suit me.”

“Oh, Dan, Cousin Mattie and her sisters-in-law are just as nice and kind as they can be,” reproached Cecily.

“Oh, they’re kind enough, but they never seem to see that a fellow gets over being five years old if he only lives long enough,” retorted Dan.

“I know a story about Cousin Mattie’s husband,” said the Story Girl. “His name was Ebenezer, you know—”

“Is it any wonder he was thin and stunted¹⁸ looking?” said Dan.

“Ebenezer is just as nice a name as Daniel,” said Felicity.

“Do you REALLY think so, my angel?” inquired Dan, in honey-sweet tones.

“Go on. Remember your second resolution,” I whispered to the Story Girl, who was stalking along with an outraged¹⁹ expression.

The Story Girl swallowed something and went on.

“Cousin Ebenezer had a horror of borrowing. He thought it was simply a dreadful disgrace to borrow ANYTHING. Well, you know he and Cousin Mattie used to live in Carlisle, where the Rays now live. This was when Grandfather King was alive. One day Cousin Ebenezer came up the hill and into the kitchen where all the family were. Uncle Roger said he looked as if he had been stealing sheep. He sat for a whole hour in the kitchen and hardly spoke²⁰ a word, but just looked miserable²¹. At last he got up and said in a desperate sort of way, ‘Uncle Abraham, can I speak with you in private for a minute?’ ‘Oh, certainly,’ said grandfather, and took him into the parlour. Cousin Ebenezer shut the door, looked all around him and then said imploringly²², ‘MORE PRIVATE STILL.’ So grandfather took him into the spare room and shut that door. He was getting frightened. He thought something terrible must have happened Cousin Ebenezer. Cousin Ebenezer came right up to grandfather, took hold of the lapel of his coat, and said in a whisper, ‘Uncle Abraham, CAN—YOU—LEND—ME—AN—AXE?’”

“He needn’t have made such a mystery about it,” said Cecily, who had missed the point entirely²³, and couldn’t see why the rest of us were laughing. But Cecily was such a darling that we did not mind her lack of a sense of humour.

“It’s kind of mean to tell stories like that about people who are dead,” said Felicity.

“Sometimes it’s safer than when they’re alive though, sweetheart,” commented Dan.

We had our expected good dinner at Cousin Mattie’s—may it be counted unto her for righteousness. She and her sisters-in-law, Miss Louisa Jane and Miss Caroline, were very kind to us. We had quite a nice time, although I understood why Dan objected to them when they patted us all on the head and told us whom we resembled and gave us peppermint²⁴ lozenges.